The Common Stock of Schemes in Early Blues and Country Music

Stoia, Nicholas

doi:10.1525/mts.2013.35.2.194

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While it is common to lower the E to a note closer to or even below an equal‐tempered E♭, the interval G–E♭ (

\overset{5}{true}

–♭

\overset{3}{true}

) is generally avoided, by means of one of three strategies. First, the E may not be lowered; this is particularly common at the end of phrases (see Stoia , p. 212). Secondly, the E may be lowered to E♭, but a passing note (F) is added to avoid a leap of a major third.…”

Section: Blues Tonal Space 2: the Laddered Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I follow Stoia () in transposing examples to C to aid comparison and accessibility. However, in discussing the music of Muddy Waters, the importance of the physicality of the guitar has led me to transcribe his music in the original key.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Everett conceives of the IV chord in this progression as an embellishment of V (, p. 154). Stoia suggests that the progression ‘emphasizes the cadence by approaching the final tonic from both its upper and lower dominants' (, p. 209). See also Stoia (), para.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Two Approaches to Tonal Space in the Music of Muddy Waters

Curry

2017

Music Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The music of Muddy Waters is steeped in the blues tradition of the early twentieth century but also plays a key role in the development of the rock music of the 1960s and '70s. The importance of Waters's music can be understood more fully by exploring its engagement with blues music's harmonic and melodic characteristics. This article posits two approaches to blues tonal space: the networked and the laddered. The first is underpinned by the cyclical potential of equal temperament and is characterised by descending chromatic motions. The second is underpinned by the harmonic series and is characterised by the microtonal shaping of pitch content within the framework of a ladder that approximates an equal-tempered major-minor seventh chord.After explaining the details of these approaches with reference to an early blues recording by Alberta Hunter and Fats Waller, the article examines the ways in which Muddy Waters favours the laddered approach but develops novel ways of referencing the networked system, often combining or synergising aspects of each. This analysis yields insight into the potential for interchange in blues between networked and laddered tonal space. This interchange exploits (1) the structural importance of the major-minor seventh chord, (2) the special weight afforded the sonority of the minor third and (3) the affinity between microtonal and chromatic step motion in this genre.

show abstract

“…While it is common to lower the E to a note closer to or even below an equal‐tempered E♭, the interval G–E♭ (

\overset{5}{true}

–♭

\overset{3}{true}

Section: Blues Tonal Space 2: the Laddered Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Two Approaches to Tonal Space in the Music of Muddy Waters

Curry

2017

Music Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…3 The difficulties presented by Weisethaunet's arguments go much of the way towards explaining why recent theoretical work on the blues and blues-related musics has largely ignored the issues he raises. The most important work in this regard is that of Nicholas Stoia (2010Stoia ( , 2013, whose thorough and rigorous work on blues music uses methods closely related to those dominating analytical approaches to music in the classical tradition. 4 Alongside such approaches Stoia does cite the work of ethnomusicologists such as David Evans and Gerhard Kubik, a fact that suggests some sensitivity to the kinds of issues highlighted by Weisethaunet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Weisethaunet does make it clear that the blues system should not necessarily be conceived in terms of deviation from a scale and his article as a whole shows great sensitivity to the complex issues encountered in attempting to theorise blues music with reference to standard analytical tools. 4 In two recent articles, Stoia draws on the work of key figures in the analysis of music in the classical tradition such as William Rothstein, William Caplin and Robert Gjerdingen(Stoia 2010(Stoia , 2013. 5 This approach to theorising the blues is also reflected in Everett's subsequent work on rock harmony(Everett 2008(Everett , 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Blues music theory and the songs of Robert Johnson: ladder, level and chromatic cycle

Curry¹

2015

Pop. Mus.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The blues is a complex and subtle musical language that warrants careful analysis and sustained debate. There are legitimate concerns with the application of music-theoretical paradigms to blues music, but we should not allow such concerns to undermine all attempts to address the blues as a serious and coherently structured music. This paper explores the notions of ladder, level and chromatic cycle as an insightful set of theoretical tools in analysing the music of Robert Johnson. Key sources in developing this analytical approach are the scholarship of Gerhard Kubik and the spatially oriented analytical methods of neo-Riemannian theory. The notions of ladder, level and chromatic cycle are explored with close reference to Johnson's 'Kindhearted Woman' and through a more general consideration of the scale-degree content of his vocal parts.

show abstract

Hearing Harmony: Toward a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era. By Christopher Doll. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2017. 320 pp. ISBN 0472073524

Heetderks

2019

Pop. Mus.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Common Stock of Schemes in Early Blues and Country Music

Cited by 15 publications

References 22 publications

Two Approaches to Tonal Space in the Music of Muddy Waters

Two Approaches to Tonal Space in the Music of Muddy Waters

Blues music theory and the songs of Robert Johnson: ladder, level and chromatic cycle

Hearing Harmony: Toward a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era. By Christopher Doll. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2017. 320 pp. ISBN 0472073524

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About